Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Fender Custom Shop has announced the Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster.

For more than 40 years now, Blackmore's famously forceful G minor blues riff in the 1972 Deep Purple classic"Smoke on the Water" has served as the quintessential heavy rock guitar riff and a metal-melody primer for burgeoning rock guitarists everywhere.

Its place in rock history is as solid as the stature of the guitarist who played it.

The Ritchie Blackmore Tribute Stratocaster takes you back in time and back to the shores of Switzerland's Lake Geneva, where the smoke from the burning Montreux Casino drifted over the waters on Dec. 4, 1971, as the building was destroyed. That night, the members of Deep Purple watched the "fire in the sky" from their hotel and drew inspiration for a timeless rock classic.

Blackmore played the song's powerful double-stop riff on a black 1968 Stratocaster, not knowing at the time that he was creating an archetypal guitar figure that would be eagerly imitated by legions of guitarists.

Each instrument also includes an exclusive tribute decal on the back of the headstock, certificate of authenticity and an orange-lined, black textured vinyl case with the Fender "amp" logo.